Alabama residents should closely follow two court cases that will test the strength of the state’s Open Meetings Law. The outcome of the cases could have a significant effect on how elected officials conduct the public’s business.
A case against the Montgomery Board of Education is awaiting an appeal to the state Supreme Court. A lawsuit against the Birmingham Board of Education is pending.
These cases are important because they are among the first legal actions filed under Alabama’s revamped Open Meetings Act of 2005. But more important is what the cases will mean to the average Alabama taxpayer.
Elected officials work for the people, and the business they conduct is the people’s business. With few exceptions, virtually everything governmental bodies do must be done in an open meeting so that members of the public have access to the deliberative process.
When elected officials act in a manner that keeps the deliberative process out of an open meeting, they’re shortchanging the public and are violating the spirit of open government and, likely, the laws meant to protect it.
The Birmingham case came after the Birmingham News reported that the school board president phoned fellow school board members to determine the amount of salary to offer an incoming superintendent.
In doing so, the board violated two provision of the Open Meetings law — one prohibiting “the use of electronic media and communications to circumvent the goal of an open meeting,” and another that specifies that salaries and benefits of public employees must be discussed in an open meeting.
We also urge members of local elected boards to pay particularly close attention to these proceedings. Occasionally, a governmental body in the Wiregrass will engage in questionable communication that takes the deliberative process from an open meeting into a private setting.
In learning from the litigation of others, they may avoid violating the law and, as a result, keep the people’s business where the people can see it.
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